I. Introduction to Eight Wooden Poems
Ba Mu Shi is a group of five-character ancient poems written by Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. These eight capitals are chanting poems. This poem is ostensibly about plants, but in fact it is about people.
These eight songs are about eight plants: willow, cherry, citrus, pear, kudzu vine, tamarisk, lingxiao and osmanthus. The author exposes, belittles or praises some people through these eight plants. Moreover, the author here not only evaluates historical figures, but also aims at the society at that time. These eight poems are vivid, profound and rich in connotation.
Second, a brief introduction to the new Yuefu poems
"New Yuefu" is a kind of Yuefu-style poem that writes current events with new themes. Although it is called Yuefu, it has not been tempered. The "new Yuefu" in the history of ancient literature, that is, "new Yuefu", is relative to the ancient Yuefu. It refers to a kind of Yuefu poem that uses new themes to write current events, and no longer takes whether it is enjoyable as the standard.
The new Yuefu poetry originated from Du Fu, inherited by Yuan Jie and Gu Kuang, and strongly advocated by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen. In the middle Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen advocated a poetry innovation movement centered on the creation of new Yuefu poems.
Third, the creative background of Eight Pieces of Wood
Poets read Chinese books. All kinds of characters are recorded in Hanshu, and the poet compares the characters in Hanshu with the real things, which is quite emotional. The poet also observed all kinds of trees, found out the similarities between a tree and a person, compared people with trees, and wrote eight poems about wood to warn future generations.